Vienna firefighters respond to fire in Goreville

April 13, 2013NewsComments Off on Vienna firefighters respond to fire in Goreville

The Vienna Fire Department joined Goreville and Lake Egypt Fire districts in battling a house fire at 500 South Fly Street Friday afternoon in Goreville.

The house was unoccupied and no injuries were reported.

Firefighters from Goreville, Lake Egypt and Vienna fire districts responded to a house fire at 500 South Fly in Goreville at approximately 3:30 p.m. Friday where thick, brown smoke could be seen escaping from the attic while the rear exterior was fully engulfed in flames.

Goreville Fire Chief Tim Gage said the cause of the fire was unknown at the time and would be determined once the scene was secured.

The one story home, with its narrow attic, provided the firefighters a challenge as pockets of fire persisted in what Lake Egypt Fire District Fire Chief Kirby Crites said, “were behind kneel walls.”

“There’s a small room in the attic and so we have to get to the fire burning behind its walls,” Crites said. ”There’s little room to maneuver.”

Owner Mike Chartier arrived after most of the exterior flames were extinguished saying he received a call telling him, “his house was on fire.”

“I’m just coming in from Nashville and my mother’s house is burning,” Chartier said. ”That’s the only thing I know.”

Firefighters were still on the scene four hours into the call with most of the fire extinguished and only light smoke rising. Portions of the attic’s exterior walls were removed with a saw to allow the firefighters access. Water pressure was reported as “low” throughout Goreville at the time of the fire.

Owner of neighboring house, Harold Lavon Johnson, said he was at his house on South Fly earlier in the day cleaning it up and preparing it to rent.

“I only left a little while ago before my friend Ellen called and notified me that it was on fire,” Johnson said, adding, “So I came back.”

No portion of the fire spread beyond the house at 500 South Fly.

Several onlookers watched as firefighters continued to battle the smoke and work to put down the fire. Goreville Mayor Larry Vaughn was present and said he was preparing to leave town when the call came, and as neighbors joined him watch the crews work, Vaughn said the firefighters, “Did good and were here quick.”